Friday, March 19, 2010

The Pill, Part 2

Keep in mind that I am NOT trying to convict anyone to change their ways. But like I said in part 1, I was honestly hurt that my friends had good solid reasons - biblical ones even - for getting off the pill and had failed to inform me. Like I said before, I'm still paying for it. My body is completely crazy.

On to part 2...

First let me educate you a little bit. Do you know exactly how the pill works? How does it prevent you from getting pregnant? Here's what I pulled up from Go Ask Alice and How Stuff Works. The pill works by...

thickening the cervical mucus, which hinders the movement of sperm,

inhibiting the egg's ability to travel through the fallopian tubes (preventing ovulation),

partially suppressing the sperm's ability to unite with (and thereby fertilize) the egg, and

and altering the uterine lining so (in the event that an egg is released and fertilized) the egg will likely not be able to implant into the uterine wall. (A fertilized egg would then be discharged with the rest of the menstrual blood.)

Did that last one shock you? This is how people get pregnant on the pill. I actually had a friend recently become pregnant on the pill. It happens. As we are told, the pill is not 100% effective. Why? Because these barrier methods can fail. But imagine if all but the last one fail. Then you have sperm, which have managed to travel through the cervical mucous, and an egg, which has managed to travel through the fallopian tubes. Somehow the two unite, and the sperm fertilizes the egg. Yet because of the last barrier method the fertilized egg is flushed out of your system, prevented from implanting.

Then I had to ask, Where does life begin? For me, this was a quick answer. I believe life begins the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg. So if I kept taking the pill and knew that an egg could potentially be fertilized and then discarded, I would discarding a life. That's not okay with me. Doing that is no different than taking a morning after pill. (See how the morning after pill works, here. Surprised that it looks so similar to the list above?) After reading and processing through what I just shared, I knew I had to stop taking the pill immediately. That was in August.

In October I was reading for a theology class. I was reading a chapter by Dr. Pyne, a DTS professor whom I respect, in Understanding Christian Theology. His writing on the pill only confirmed my decision more. He has a very short section on the pill, which you can read here. (In the "search inside" box, type "birth-control pill" ...that will allow you to access the full page. I'm including an excerpt though below.)

You will find Christians that disagree with this. I told a good friend what I had learned, and she disagreed, saying she did not believe that's when life occurs. Like I said, I'm not trying to convince you. I just want to share with you what I have learned and where the Lord has convicted me. You are entitled to your own view. I respect that.

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I feel like I should label this "Appendix A." Either way, here's that snippet of what Dr. Pyne wrote. This will give you the gist of his thoughts. I agree. But this is controversial in Christian circles. Like I said, not all Christian leaders agree with this stance. But here it is...

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My Sweet Little Family

I married my best friend in 2007. And in February 2011, we had a sweet baby girl - Lilleigh. Two and a half years later, in August 2013, the Lord blessed us again with another baby girl, Adeline. We also have a delightfully, well-mannered Aussie, Sammy. This is our family.